The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Why I'd hand it to you

William Shirer covered Berlin as a reporter in the 1930s, then used captured German documents to write this history of Nazi Germany from Hitler's rise to the regime's collapse. Despite running well over a thousand pages, it reads clearly and keeps moving. It is the kind of book you can live with for a few months. Two honest notes. Historians have learned a great deal since it came out in 1960, and some of Shirer's broad ideas about the German character have not aged well. It is also a serious time commitment. If you want one big narrative of the era, it still holds up.

— Matt Jordan